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Winchester CC revises charges to discourage city centre parking

Winchester City Council increased central Winchester can parking charges on 1 May 2017. Below is the Council's press release setting out their reasons. WinACC supports the aim of encouraging fewer people to drive in the city centre.

Winchester’s Parking Strategy

Winchester CC Press Release: 27/04/2017

Helping people to find the right parking for their visit and the needs of the environment and air quality are at the heart of Winchester’s Parking Strategy.

There are no changes to parking charges in the wider Winchester district and free evening and all-day Sunday parking is retained in the city to support the night-time and weekend economies.

The City Council is committed to the Park and Ride service and is looking at capacity to see if there is a need to increase buses at peak times or to develop options to enhance the service provided.

Charges for the Park and Ride have been frozen while most in the ‘inner ring’ are being reduced.

Increases to charges in city centre car parks will be introduced in early May – the first since 2013. The changes are intended to encourage those who want to park for longer to use Park and Ride or the car parks in the inner ring. They are not designed to increase income.

The Council will also be looking at other measures to deliver the strategy including new signing of car parks, ultra low-emission vehicle (ULEV) charging points and other technology to promote a more informed use of car parks.

The aim is to promote central car parks for shorter visits whilst encouraging drivers who want to stay for longer than four hours to use Park and Ride or inner ring car parks. Visitors will be able to park in the centre for more than four hours but, if they make this choice, they will pay a premium charge. This should contribute to improving air quality by helping drivers to make the right choice for them without driving around looking for or queuing for spaces in the city centre.

The new charges are also designed to remove previous anomalies so that charging is consistent and better understood by drivers.

Changes will apply to season tickets on some city centre car parks to encourage drivers staying all day to look at alternative options.

The review of parking charges in Winchester town was part of the review of the City Council’s Car Parking Strategy considered by Cabinet in December 2016 and the new tariffs were agreed by the Traffic and Parking Committee in January this year.